Lit Mob: A Website for the Bookish Hipster

When we heard that there was a new literary website in town being billed as "kind of like a Pitchfork for books," we were intrigued. Lit Mob doesn't yet have the ability to make or break an author while being smug in the process (à la Pitchfork), but it's a great hub for the Goodreads set to get smart and pithy takes (no review is longer than three paragraphs) on a carefully-curated selection of books. Unlike the New York Review of Books, say, Lit Mob is not about aspirational reviews -- the site's writers review books that your average hipster will actually read, like Chuck Klosterman's new novel or Radio Silence: A Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music. The site also features an "Artist Picks" section wherein musicians (like Tim Hoey of Cut Copy and Gabe Levine of Takka Takka) talk about what they're reading and a "Local Picks" section, which has various local bookstores' giving their top-five book picks of the moment. We recently chatted with Doug Perkul, the site's publisher and founder.

So what is the general idea behind Lit Mob?
To provide book reviews as well as other useful and entertaining information to our readers. All of us (the four partners behind Lit Mob) are huge indie music and film fans, and there are a plethora of sites that cater to these categories. With books there was a huge void. Book fans could either read The New York Times Book Review to find selections (which is kind of like reading a book in and of itself) or rely on consumer-generated content, which we did not find to be too reliable or compelling. What we aim to do is to provide content for the more discerning reader. This site centers on book reviews, but also includes tons of other stuff (and more in the works) that people should enjoy.

Who would you say is the ideal Lit Mob reader?
Someone that is a free thinker and does not necessarily follow the flock to the bestseller list. We are more concerned with great books than sales figures. Lit Mob is not meant for everyone. That is the beauty of the web, we can be niche in our focus. If you love Pavement and the Coen Brothers, then chances are that you'll love Lit Mob. Our readers tend to be between the ages of 18-40, live on the coasts, and are well educated.

Why do you think there are so few quality book-related sites?
With media fighting for people's attention, the book has become less sexy. So much of the time we are hearing about social media, video games and interactive this and that, and the book is as old school as you can get. They are just bound paper. People seem to have forgotten that people do still read and LOVE books. When I wrote the business plan for Lit Mob and was researching the market, I was blown away that something like Lit Mob had not been done before. There are great online review sites out there like Bookslut.com, but we are taking a much different path.

What's the vetting process in terms of what books get reviewed on the site?
Stephen Blackwell is the editor-in-chief of Lit Mob and is the ultimate filter for the site. It is his job to make the tough decisions as to what gets included on Lit Mob. We do tend to focus on books with substance over mainstream buzz and cater to the indie crowd. Stephen also serves as the editor-in-chief of Death+Taxes Magazine and has an incredible sense of what readers want to read.

I like the artist pick section -- can you tell us some artists that are going to be "picking" sometime in the near future?
Hmmm... tough question. We are constantly reaching out to new artists. Stephen and I come from a music background (I used to be the associate publisher of SPIN Magazine) and we tend to pick those bands that we love. I have been speaking to Johnny Marr of late and he seems rather keen in getting involved (fingers crossed).

Lit Mob is much more of a web magazine than a blog -- what was the thinking behind actively not making it a blog?
I kind of have a love/hate relationship with blogs. I love the immediacy of them, but sometimes the content is just musings and random dribble that is posted, as people feel that they are forced to update the site every hour of every day. This was never our desire with Lit Mob. Everything on the site, from the design, to the content is thought out and well planned. Coming from a magazine background, I understand that the reader experience needs to be based on quality over quantity. Sure, we could get more content posted, and make more frequent updates, but the site would suffer.

What are your plans for the short-term future for the site? Long term?
For the short term, we plan on focusing on the core site and working on initiatives to further our reader base. We are thrilled that we have been this well received so far. Long term, we will be adding content on graphic novels (currently in the works) and also have tons of partnership plans that we need to see through.

And what are you reading right now?
Right now I am reading The Best Creative Nonfiction Volume 2, edited by Lee Gutkind. We aren’t making any money yet, but at least we get free books ;-)